KEMEROVO, March 27. /TASS/. Supervision-free period should not be the reason for the lack of control over the security measures provided by private entrepreneur, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting dedicated to a fire in the Zimnyaya Vishnya (or Winter Cherry) shopping mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo.
"Tax holidays do not apply to security. What does it have to do with it?" he said, reacting to the report of Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov, who talked about the preferential treatment for small businesses. The minister mentioned tax holidays, apparently referring to supervision-free period, that is, a three-year period from the start of operations of a small enterprise, when it is free from most inspections.
Putin also noted that the duty of the authorities is to monitor how the work of the business is organized and to ensure that it is at the proper level. "The owner hands over a construction object and the authorities must provide the necessary level of security," Putin said.
The fire started on the top floor of the four-storey Zimnyaya Vishnya (or Winter Cherry) shopping mall on March 25, engulfing an area of some 1,500 square meters. According to the most recent data, a total of 64 people were killed in the fire, 60 injured were treated in hospitals, 15 of them were hospitalized and 40 received outpatient care. The bodies of 25 victims have already been identified, including 13 children.